Travel Gossip

One of the perks of traveling is that you meet other travelers and make travel friends. And they have travel friends. And everyone has different experiences. When you get travelers together they share their secrets, locations, hotels, suggestions, things gleaned from locals.

Travel gossip.
Invaluable information.

Some of the most amazing places I've ever been have been due to travel gossip and those in-the-know; The Crane in Barbados. Ffreyes beach (yes, there are two F's in that) in Antigua. Cafe Le Nummachia in Rome.

Today I was given a new juicy tidbit: Malta. It came via a friend of a friend.
Malta is an archipelago of three main islands between Sicily and Tunisia. It has a rich history that incorporates Greek, Phoenician, Carthagian, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Norman, Ottoman, French and British Rules. It is a gorgeous Mediterranean island country.

View of the city of Valetta

The Blue Hole on the island of Gozo

At first I thought I'd file it under "Add to the list." But when google-mapped Malta and I saw that it was just below Italy and very accessible to both Rome and Cairo.

Hmmm....
Wheels are spinning in my head. (Apparently there are wheels in my head.)

For my trip in April: I've got everything booked but my flight from Cairo to Rome (from there I was planning on going to Naples via train for a few days and then heading back to Rome). I almost bought that flight from Cairo to Rome, but something stopped me. Some little itch in the back of my head that said: Yes, you want to go to Naples and eat the world's best pizza, see Pompeii and swim in Capri, but do you really want to do it on this trip? Shouldn't you maybe save it for a trans-Italy trip?

That's what the itch said to me.
But then I didn't know what I would do if I ditched Naples. So I made loose plans (refundable hotel in Napoli) and just went with it.

And then I heard the travel gossip about Malta...

Rome to Jordan to Egypt to Malta to Rome. I like it.

Please stand by.